Yeah, that was an ugly game for injuries An SI article mentioned that 7 Seattle players were injured during the game. Looks like it is going to be another "stumble backward into the playoffs" kind of season, if they even manage to stay ahead of the Rams.

It occurs to me that TNF has been going for over a decade now and full season for what, 5 years? I wonder if anyone has run the numbers on relative injury rates.

Yeah, that was an ugly game for injuries An SI article mentioned that 7 Seattle players were injured during the game. Looks like it is going to be another "stumble backward into the playoffs" kind of season, if they even manage to stay ahead of the Rams.

It occurs to me that TNF has been going for over a decade now and full season for what, 5 years? I wonder if anyone has run the numbers on relative injury rates.

The NFL doesn't care because it is increased revenue and there are always replacement players.

See, as a Packers fan, we are used to this. At the beginning of the season, it really looks like the year that the defense will stay healthy. Half way through the season, everyone is injured and you are signing guys off of practice squads of other teams to become starters on your team. Then, you have to rely on one of the best quarterbacks in the league to salvage the rest of.....wait, shit, nevermind.

Burn in hell, CBS! We finally get to see a Patriots game on TV at home and they cut away with 4 minutes left to go to a game with a pair of 3-6 teams playing for jack shit? Fuck you guys.

Fox did an even worse decision. Had been watching the Vikings blow out the Rams. That game finished, so they switched to Saints/Redskins, which was going into overtime. They went a few minutes into that, but then decided to cut away... for the fricking post-game report. What's worse, they did their quick intro, went to commercial, and then came back to report that the game was over. Gee, sure would have been nice to have seen it!!!

Burn in hell, CBS! We finally get to see a Patriots game on TV at home and they cut away with 4 minutes left to go to a game with a pair of 3-6 teams playing for jack shit? Fuck you guys.

Fox did an even worse decision. Had been watching the Vikings blow out the Rams. That game finished, so they switched to Saints/Redskins, which was going into overtime. They went a few minutes into that, but then decided to cut away... for the fricking post-game report. What's worse, they did their quick intro, went to commercial, and then came back to report that the game was over. Gee, sure would have been nice to have seen it!!!

NFL rules, they can't show OT in bonus coverage or something like that.

The Chiefs started off so hot this season and it was because they were doing things that they normally don't do: allow Alex Smith to stretch out the field and throw some deep balls. And it fucking worked. Then, at some point, the Head Walrus said "Ok, well that was interesting experiment, but the results (winning 5 games in a row) put me too much out of my comfort zone so let's go back to throwing the ball no more than 5 yards down the field so the defenses can start stacking the box so that Kareem Hunt can't run more than 2 yards down the field."

Relatively safe field goal at the end of the 2nd quarter, with only seconds left to go, and getting the ball to start the second half. Let's fake it instead with a short run that, even if it was successful in getting the first down, probably would have been the last play of the half, with no points.

Then, burn a timeout on a very stupid challenge, where it was obvious that it was an incomplete pass. I didn't even see Baldwin arguing with him to throw the challenge flag. Seems like the fans talked him into throwing it, which, thanks a lot, idiots.

I'm torn on the almost decision to try one more play at the end with 7 seconds on the clock. Obviously, they needed an extra couple of yards, but the odds of time expiring on that play were rather high.

This, coupled with the perennial high penalties, which we were able to overcome with sheer talent before, is making me think that raw player talent and skill has been masking bad coaching flaws for a while. Flaws that can't be masked anymore, when you've got a community college level secondary on defense now.

That was a horribly officiated game all around. Lots of calls that shouldn’t have been and ones that should have, but weren’t. Still, I was a bit surprised at how much Gruden complained about it. I always figured there was an unwritten rule to not bash the refs too much, but he went all in.

I wonder if it will get to a point like with college FB in which they seem to be leaning more towards calling for ejection first and then either upholding or reversing it based on the review. Since it does seem like there are a number of hits that are not incidental which probably should probably call for an ejection along with a penalty. Just perusing the ESPN site there's an article about them suspending Grok for a game for his hit in the Buffalo game. Naturally he's appealing it which is kind of crazy since it's right there in full motion color of him dropping his reinforced elbow right into the back of the guys head when he was already down. It's not like it was part of a tackle or anything and incidental, but the guy was laying on the ground and Grok goes all WWE on him. Should have been ejected since I thought the NFL was all about player safety and Grok certainly violated that.

It's a familiar tune every year but it does seem like the NFL really needs to do some serious work with the reffing of their games. Be it doing a teardown and rebuild of the rules to simplify and clarify them or making the refs fulltime employees so that they can be in training during the off season in order to hopefully standardize and make the calls more consistent across the games. Since it certainly seems that what constitutes a catch varies from play to play and game to game which as a pretty fundamental part of the game shouldn't be this variable.

That was a horribly officiated game all around. Lots of calls that shouldn’t have been and ones that should have, but weren’t. Still, I was a bit surprised at how much Gruden complained about it. I always figured there was an unwritten rule to not bash the refs too much, but he went all in.

I think if the Shazier injury hadn't happened, he wouldn't have went on about it.

Quote:

I wonder if it will get to a point like with college FB in which they seem to be leaning more towards calling for ejection first and then either upholding or reversing it based on the review.

That was a horribly officiated game all around. Lots of calls that shouldn’t have been and ones that should have, but weren’t. Still, I was a bit surprised at how much Gruden complained about it. I always figured there was an unwritten rule to not bash the refs too much, but he went all in.

I think if the Shazier injury hadn't happened, he wouldn't have went on about it.

Quote:

I wonder if it will get to a point like with college FB in which they seem to be leaning more towards calling for ejection first and then either upholding or reversing it based on the review.

The NFL really should just use the collegiate targeting rule.

Which is weird because the Shazier injury was caused by him ramming his head into the QB. It wasn't the result of someone else hitting him. I saw a report that they think his injury is a spinal concussion and not anything permanent. It said it was comparable to another player that ended up only missing 1 game.

The team was told Shazier has a spinal contusion with some swelling involved. They won't know more until the swelling goes down, but it is encouraging news for Shazier. Former Steelers quarterback Tommy Maddox had a similar injury in 2002 and missed just one game.

I've long considered the Browns my AFC team and I thought, despite the whole McCarron debacle, the FO has done pretty good. They've had good drafts(sure they missed on Wentz, but I don't really know he would have done as well there) and they have plenty of picks.

Rumor mill is that everyone in the Browns FO was an idiot and wanted the McCarron trade to go through, but Brown was the only smart one, dragged his feet, and sabotaged the deal. This pissed off the ownership, power struggle for a few weeks, and then Brown gets shown the door. I honestly think he was the only smart person in the Browns FO and I'm sure he wanted to see his plan to come to fruition, but he's probably relieved to not be the only sane person in the looney bin.

Kind of glad they left Jackson in place. I think there's some issues there but am willing to give him a chance to see if he can build a team that can work. I'd rather that, even if it doesn't significantly improve, instead of bringing in another new coach with a new plan that will likely fail since he won't have the players to fit that plan and then they too will get fired in an endless cycle. At least give Jackson a chance to have a couple of years to get the people he wants and system in place and see what happens.

Kind of glad they left Jackson in place. I think there's some issues there but am willing to give him a chance to see if he can build a team that can work. I'd rather that, even if it doesn't significantly improve, instead of bringing in another new coach with a new plan that will likely fail since he won't have the players to fit that plan and then they too will get fired in an endless cycle. At least give Jackson a chance to have a couple of years to get the people he wants and system in place and see what happens.

If they get a QB this year and there isn't a improvement he'll be gone. I don't know if they'll go FA(Cousins or somebody) or draft.

I'm not their GM but I'd keep Kizer. I'd take Barkley #1 and try to make sure they get a great WR with their other top 10 pick. Barkley would take a ton of pressure off Kizer and having Josh Gordon and, I dunno, Ridley out of Alabama would instantly improve their offense. The only problem is this draft is fairly weak in WRs so if they don't get Ridley I don't know who they'd end up with. Maybe then take one of the QBs with the 8th pick.

Yeah, I doubt he'll even leave the Redskins but he is(AFAIK) the biggest FA QB coming out this year. So I figured I had to at least throw it out there. And the Browns have a ton of money to spend I think.

I'm very down on Kizer since he is still making poor choices. He throws it when he shouldn't and doesn't throw it away when he should. And he's had some key turnovers that killed potential comebacks. Perhaps next year he'll be better but if history is any indication they'll draft a QB and want to start them next year. Of course the Browns seem cursed in that regard as well seeing as the number of QBs they've passed on that have had good/great rookie seasons elsewhere is pretty impressive.

Yeah, I doubt he'll even leave the Redskins but he is(AFAIK) the biggest FA QB coming out this year. So I figured I had to at least throw it out there. And the Browns have a ton of money to spend I think.

Not sure the Browns want to get another Washington QB seeing as how well the last one turned out.

Yeah, I doubt he'll even leave the Redskins but he is(AFAIK) the biggest FA QB coming out this year. So I figured I had to at least throw it out there. And the Browns have a ton of money to spend I think.

I am 1000% positive that Cousins will leave DC after this year. My top picks are Arizona, Pittsburgh, and Denver.

Nah, I'll bet you he'll be back in DC. The Redskins can't afford to let him go, unless they plan on moving up in the draft to get a QB.

Pittsburgh? You really think Roethlisberger is done? He's had a pretty good year and I think he has 2 or 3 years left on his deal.

I could see Arizona but I'm betting Elway drafts a QB, they'll have a decent pick to do so.

There's enough bad blood between Cousins and the Washington org that I think his time there is done. It would take a deep playoff run to turn that around, and I don't see it.

Roethlisberger has been openly talking about retirement for years now, and it looked like he was on the verge of doing so this past offseason. He has two rings and zillion$, and has taken many, many hits over his career. However the Steelers are really short on cap space, unlike the Browns or Jets, who are flush and might well be willing to invest in a veteran.

There's enough bad blood between Cousins and the Washington org that I think his time there is done. It would take a deep playoff run to turn that around, and I don't see it.

That's a problem with the state of the NFL today. Quarterbacks are so damned valuable that if you have a functional one you pretty much have to pay them super-duper-star prices even if they aren't a super-duper-star. Washington does not want to end up in a situation like Baltimore, where Flacco turned one good offseason into a HUEG contract that is basically dragging down the team. On top of that, even a functional quarterback with an outsized contract is still a bit of a drag on the money available to the rest of the team.